[ BFG employee hat ]
1. Higher end products often have "reference" fans, so they're all the same. For other products, some may be offered with "better" coolers such as the BFG ThermoIntelligence series. Otherwise fansinks are generally the cheapest that will still keep the card from frying.
2. BFG has the best trade-up program at 100 days, plus has a lifetime warranty on ALL graphics cards, unlike some other brands that are "known" for lifetime warranties. For instance any EVGA card where the part number ends in Lx or Tx (with x being some character) has only a
1+1 year warranty.
At Newegg only 19 out of 54 EVGA cards have a lifetime warranty.
Product registration is required for BFG's lifetime warranty, just like EVGA and XFX.
3. Pricing can vary day-by-day depending on on-going promotions and rebates. Heck, at Newegg pricing can vary hour-by-hour! One brand isn't going to always have the best prices on all products. With that being said, generally speaking if you are looking for the absolute best deals, you may have to give up on long warranties. I've noticed that the cheapest cards are usually not the cards with lifetime warranty.
4. Availability will vary. Some vendors do not carry all brands or all products. Also, really popular products may become sold-out. For instance, BITD when the 8800 GT first came out, they became sold out just about everywhere due to overwhelming demand.
5. BFG's toll-free (in USA) tech support line is answered 24 hours/day, 365 days/year (and we may even answer on 2/29 if we feel like it). I'm not sure that our competitors answer their support phones during major holidays. BFG also doesn't charge an extra fee for "priority" service like some companies do (EVGA) or charge a handling fee for RMAs (I think Sapphire does).
6. BFG includes plenty of useful extras. For instance, out of the "big three" (BFG, EVGA, XFX) BFG is the only company to include an HDMI cable with the GTX 295. Actually, just a quick peek on Newegg... XFX includes a component video adaptor with their GTX 295. Too bad the card doesn't have component video output. FAIL! :laugh:
7. Zap works for BFG. I hear he's one swell dude!
[ / BFG employee hat ]
Whew, back to being a computer and gaming enthusiast.
Disclaimer: Normally I don't shill (and my posting history backs me up). This post was to answer the OP's questions.
Originally posted by: sgrinavi
I think step-up is a joke, you end up paying retail for the bleeding edge, no thanks.
YMMV depending on when you bought your card, NVIDIA price moves and new product releases.
For instance, one person in another forum just posted asking for details about trade-up. He is interested in a GTX 295 and had purchased a BFG GTX 280 OC2 model for $500. Guess what?
He can trade up to a GTX 295 for the cost of shipping! :thumbsup:
Alternately, someone that bought a GTX 280 four months ago are outta luck.
Originally posted by: sgrinavi
5 EVGA has some great customer service, never had to deal with anyone else.
Translation: You've only had EVGA cards die on you.
J/K
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